Record-breaking temperatures cause blackouts and heat-related
illnesses, while residents struggle to avoid the heat
By Rachelle Gines
Gilroy – Temperatures rocketed to a record breaking 109 degrees Saturday and 112 degrees Sunday, igniting not only a heat wave in South County, but triggering massive blackouts across in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, and multiple responses from fire and power officials.
At least eight people suffered from heat-related illnesses over the weekend, and PG&E issued a level 2 electrical emergency alert, meaning that residents are being asked to cut back on non-essential uses of electricity immediately.
While PG&E officials are uncertain when power will be fully restored, at least one resident purchased a generator to keep his home cool.
Meanwhile, temperatures are expected to cool as Gilroy nears its annual three-day Garlic Festival.
PG&E responds
Jeff Smith, Pacific Gas and Electric Spokesman said that as of Monday, 39,690 Santa Clara County customers were without power.
“We don’t have an estimate at this point, when the power will come back on,” he said.
The possibility of rolling blackout is minimal because people have been doing their part to conserve energy, Smith said.
Rolling blackouts are necessary only if a stage three electrical emergency alert is called, Smith said.
Smith said that 1,086 distinct sites as of Monday had to be fixed in order for electricity to return. Even with about 500 crews working around the county, Smith said the number of non-working outages sites contributed to the amount of time it would take for power to return.
“We’ve been swamped with calls,” he said.
On of those callers was Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman. Gartman said he was without electricity since Saturday afternoon, and contacted PG&E at least four times. In fact, Gartman bought a $500 generator from Lowe’s to combat the lack of power before his power was restored Monday afternoon.
“PG&E needs to be on top of at least notifying people, that yes we know you have a power outage, and tell us at least when the power might come on,” Gartman said, noting that the majority of people in his Felice Drive neighborhood were without electricity also.
Gartman’s plan included using the generator to power his refrigerator and taking a day trip with his wife to Monterey Sunday to escape the heat. But Gartman said gas for the generator cost him about $17 to fill a five-gallon can, for five hours of use, at three times a day at the total cost of about $51 a day wasn’t so convenient anymore.
Superintendent of Gilroy Schools, Edwin Diaz also found a way to beat the heat. Without power since Sunday afternoon, Diaz and his wife utilized the pool in their backyard.
“It was really more of a warm bath than a pool. But it was somewhat refreshing,” he said of his backyard in Gilroy’s Santa Teresa and Hecker Pass neighborhood.
Keeping cool
Captain Tim Price of the Gilroy Fire Department said that firefighters and paramedics responded to eight heat-related calls from Friday to Saturday.
“Compared to normal weekends, there have been a lot of heat-related injury calls. But when you have unusually high temperatures, the chance of heat-related illnesses go up,” Price said, adding that no one died of heat-related illnesses this weekend.
As far as the safety of firefighters, Price said the nature of their work and their protective uniforms are potentially hazardous given the temperatures.
“Firefighters must know their limitations. You might work for 20 minutes, take a break, get out of the uniform and go back to the station for plenty of fluids and rest for a good hour,” Price said.
Using a car with a broken radiator as an example, Price said that heat exhaustion can be extremely dangerous.
“Imagine you’re driving a car, and it’s all good,” Price said comparing it to a person in normal weather. “Then imagine you’re driving it up a hill, carrying a huge load. Then imagine that the radiator hose breaks, the radiator breaks, and the car blows up. That’s kind of like the human body with heat exhaustion, and that’s not good.”
In response to the record breaking temperatures, Ty Ashford, program coordinator of the Gilroy Senior Center, said the facility would add three more hours to it’s daily schedule, operating from 9am to 6pm, instead of 9am to 3pm until the heat wave is over.
“The heat was a safety concern for the well being of our seniors,” Ashford said.
But the high temperatures have not affected Santa Clara water levels, said Gerry Uenaka, public information representative for the Santa Clara County Water District.
“Evaporation is slightly higher than normal due to the heat, but that’s to be expected. Overall, there is nothing remarkable about changes water levels,” Uenaka said.
Uenaka also said that water levels in the San Luis Reservoir are higher than normal for this time of year, but that the district is monitoring the level to ensure that water will be available should it be needed throughout the rest of the summer and early fall. Santa Clara county gets a significant amount of it’s water from the reservoir, he said.
“We always want to maintain a balanced water supply,” Uenaka said.
Impact on produce
The sun’s scorching rays has not left South Valley produce untouched. Vice-president of sales and marketing for Morgan Hill based Chiala Farms said that certain peppers are starting to show signs of sunburn.
“We don’t know the full impact that this weather will have on the crop yet, but it is certain that there will be some,” Chiala said.
The Chiala farm, known for bell peppers, specialized chilies, beans and squash, is divided into a farm entity and a food processing entity, Chiala said.
“The quality of the product will not be affected, because we won’t accept a lower quality,” Chiala said.
Chiala also explained that on the farm entity part of the businesses, the hot weather might affect the quantity of peppers in the market. The heat caused some of the buds on the crops to drop before they have a had a chance to flower, he said, meaning that there will be no fruit because the flowers haven’t even had a chance to sprout and grow.
“If the yield is off and the peppers aren’t there, the consumer might experience a rise in cost due to the laws of supply and demand,” Chiala said.
Some businesses feel the heat as many locals try to stay cool at home
By Brian Babcock Staff Writer
Gilroy – As temperatures soared above 100 degrees this weekend, some local businesses were left with no customers while some businesses, like Target and Costco, saw fans and air conditioners fly off the shelves.
“Frankly, it wasn’t any busier than any other summer weekend, which surprised me,” said Ed Jackson, general manager of Platinum Theaters. Jackson said the opening weekend of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel drew in many more people than the triple-digit heat did over the past weekend.
“It probably drew in business a little bit, but literally, there were no more people than the weekend before,” Jackson said.
As temperatures soared to 109 degrees and 112 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, John Litzinger and his daughter Jaelyn proved what many people were most likely saying over the weekend – it was hot enough to fry an egg.
“I told the girls, ‘Hey, do you think we could fry an egg on the sidewalk?'” Litzinger asked his daughters. Jaelyn became excited and went outside with her dad.
Litzinger said that it took about 40 minutes but the yolk did crust over and the white gelled up.
While the Litzingers were frying their egg, Caroline Haessler said she was just trying to stay cool after the power went out on Sunday.
Since her air conditioner was out of order she said she went back to her nutrition books.
“I’m not stupid, so I drank a lot of water and drew the drapes,” Haessler said as she walked into Planet Fitness on Monterey Street. She emerged five minutes later after her kickboxing class was canceled because the air conditioner wasn’t working in the building.
Over the weekend some downtown businesses either noticed little difference or a loss of business.
Scott Kawano, owner of Gilroy Bowl, said that he saw no difference in the amount of people that walked into his building.
But Bob Tapella, owner of Garlic City Billiards, said the heat negatively affected his business. He said that on most days people start trickling in when he opens his doors at 5pm, but over the weekend most people began showing up at 9pm and he said the place did not even fill up until 10:30pm.
“I looked around the streets and the whole city was empty,” Tapella said. “There wasn’t anybody in the streets. There was no one to be seen.”
Tapella said that Saturday was the hottest day he had ever been through in Gilroy. It would seem that many other people felt the same way.
Over the weekend fans and air conditioners were the hot items of the day as they disappeared off the shelves.
The employees of the local Costco said that they sold out of fans on Saturday, leaving overheated customers to fend for themselves. One employee said they had received at least 200 calls about fans.
The local Target, located on Camino Arroyo, sold out of fans Friday.
“We have no fans,” said Target operator Victoria Vasquez, who said that she and another operator answered 188 calls over the weekend from people asking for fans.
Vasquez said that once she told the caller they were out they would immediately ask where they could find one. She had to tell them that the local Target stores were sold out of fans and that from what she knew, Lowes, Wal-Mart and Costco were sold out too.
She said all she did was take calls about fans all weekend.
“And now it’s starting again,” Vasquez said.
– 39,690 customers were without power in Santa Clara County (as of Monday)
– Rolling blackouts are necessary, only if a stage three electrical emergency alert is called. Residents currently are being asked to cut back use of appliances, so thatresources are not strained.
– In response to temperatures, the Gilroy Senior Center has added three more hours daily, operating from 9am to 6pm, until the heat wave is over.
– The Gilroy Fire Department responded to eight heat related medical calls between Friday and Sunday.
– The local Costco sold out of fans Saturday. One employee said they received at least 200 calls about fans.
– The local Target sold out of fans Friday. About 188 calls were received over the weekend from people asking for fans.
– “Imagine you’re driving a car … up a hill, carrying a huge load. Then imagine that the radiator hose breaks, the radiator breaks and the car blows up. That’s kind of like the human body with heat exhaustion, and that’s not good.”
– Gilroy Fire Capt.
Tim Price
